The invention relates to laundry detergent and/or pre-treater composition in a gel form.
Thickened or gel laundry products are preferred by many consumers, over either powder or liquid detergents. Gels provide the advantages of liquid detergents, but also can be used for pretreatment of fabrics, obviating the necessity for purchase of a separate pre-treatment product.
Gel detergents have been described. See, for instance, WO 99/06519 and WO 99/27065, Klier et al. (U.S. Pat. No. 5,538,662), GB 2 355 015, Lance-Gomez et al. (U.S. Pat. No. 5,820,695), Hawkins (U.S. Pat. No. 5,952,285), Akred et al. (U.S. Pat. No. 4,515,704), Farr et al. (U.S. Pat. No. 4,900,469).
Typically, the gelling and/or thickening is accomplished by one or more of the following: high solids concentration, high surfactant concentration, high soap concentration, use of special thickening agents (such as polymers or gums). Such approaches are problematic: special thickening actives and/or high active concentrations are not cost-effective, high solids may impede product appearance and functionality.
Although fatty acids have been mentioned, they are mentioned as surfactants (i.e. neutralized to soaps), or, in any event, used in fully neutralized form and exemplified in fully neutralized compositions. Thus, although prior disclosures may mention xe2x80x9cfatty acids,xe2x80x9d it is specifically non-neutralized fatty acids and their amount vis-à-vis the total surfactant that are employed in the present invention, in order to obtain gels with the desired properties.
The present invention includes a gel laundry detergent and/or pre-treater composition comprising:
(a) from about 8% to about 35%, by weight of the composition, of a surfactant, A, selected from the group consisting of anionic, nonionic and cationic, and amphoteric surfactants and mixtures thereof;
(b) from about 0.1% to about 5%, by weight of the composition; of a non-neutralized fatty acid;
(c) from about 50 to about 90% of water;
(d) wherein the weight % ratio of the non-neutralized fatty acid to the surfactant is less than about 1 but greater than or equal to the Gelling Index Value, G, defined by equation (I)                     G        =                              0.75                          1              +                                                (                                      0.11                    xc3x97                    A                                    )                                83                                              -                                    (                                                0.0062                  xc3x97                  A                                -                0.25                            )                        .                                              (        I        )            
Surprisingly, it has been discovered, as part of the present invention, that by employing non-neutralized fatty acid in a specific amount, depending on the total surfactant level, a shear-thinning, lamellar gel, with the desired pouring viscosity, can be attained at total surfactant level less than or equal to 35%, preferably less than 30%, most preferably less than 25%. Furthermore, it has been discovered that the weight % ratio of non-neutralized fatty acid to the total surfactant within a specific range, defined by the Gelling Index equation, results in gels with the desired properties.
The inventive product offers an advantage of laundry pre-treater and a detergent in a single product.